How the National Parliament has changed even before sitting. Tony Abbott has refused to supply the Liberal/National Coalition policies and election bribes for costing by Treasury. That appears to be an untenable position.(more…)

And going where, who knows? On the news of the latest death of an Australian soldier in Afghanistan, the Defence Minister comes on with the boilerplate, as per Dan Oakes and Tom Hyland in The Sydney Morning Herald:(more…)

As Malcolm Fraser taught us in 1975, the Australian Parliament consists of the Senate and the House of Representatives. So it is technically now the House of Reps in which neither major party has a majority to form a government.(more…)

To win government, the Liberal/National coalition would have to win 16 seats (oops should be 17 seats to get 76 of the 150 seats of the H of Reps). I haven’t a clue what will have happen, but I think that is unlikely given the lack of substantive policy, illustrated by their broadband shambles and their costing mess.(more…)

Let us confidently move forward and never look back. Iraq has not unfortunately, despite the best intentions and the massive firepower, delivered victory, but we have achieved success in building large bases in a strategic region that we did not have before.(more…)